Science Fiction (Ornette Coleman album)

Science Fiction is an album by the American avant-garde jazz saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman, recorded in September and October of 1971 and released on Columbia Records in February 1972.[2]

Science Fiction
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 1972[1]
RecordedSeptember 9, 10 & October 13, 1971
StudioColumbia Studio E, New York
Genre
Length37:03
LabelColumbia
Ornette Coleman chronology
Broken Shadows
(1971)
Science Fiction
(1972)
Skies of America
(1972)

In 2000, the album was re-released along with Broken Shadows (recorded during the same sessions but not released until 1982) and several unreleased tracks as The Complete Science Fiction Sessions.[3]

Recording

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Science Fiction features Coleman's early 1970s quartet, consisting of Coleman (alto saxophone, trumpet, violin), Charlie Haden (double bass), Ed Blackwell (drums), and Dewey Redman (tenor saxophone).[4] It also features performances by former Coleman sidemen Billy Higgins (drums), Don Cherry (pocket trumpet), and Bobby Bradford (trumpet), and vocals by Indian-American singer Asha Puthli on two tracks and American poet David Henderson on the title track.[4]

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [5]
Pitchfork9.5/10[6]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide     [4]

The AllMusic review by Steve Huey awarded the album 5 stars and stated: "Science Fiction was [Coleman's] creative rebirth, a stunningly inventive and appropriately alien-sounding blast of manic energy... Science Fiction is a meeting ground between Coleman's past and future; it combines the fire and edge of his Atlantic years with strong hints of the electrified, globally conscious experiments that were soon to come. And, it's overflowing with brilliance".[5] The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide called it "fascinating" and "multifaceted" in another five-star review.[4] Reviewing the album for Pitchfork, Daniel Felsenthal called it "a one-of-a-kind dispatch from the vibrant, polygenic, and contested lofts of downtown New York" and "a welcome return to the singable, quintessentially Southern melodicism that counterbalanced [Coleman's] dauntless early oeuvre".[6]

Track listing

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All compositions by Ornette Coleman.

  1. "What Reason Could I Give?" – 3:06
  2. "Civilization Day" – 6:04
  3. "Street Woman" – 4:50
  4. "Science Fiction" – 5:03
  5. "Rock the Clock" – 3:16
  6. "All My Life" – 3:56
  7. "Law Years" – 5:22
  8. "The Jungle Is a Skyscraper" – 5:26
  • Recorded at Columbia Studio E, NYC on September 9 (tracks 2, 3, 7 and 8), September 10 (track 4) and October 13 (tracks 1, 5 and 6), 1971

Personnel

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References

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  1. ^ "Billboard". February 26, 1972.
  2. ^ Ornette Coleman discography accessed November 30, 2010
  3. ^ Jurek, Thom. "Complete Science Fiction Sessions". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 45. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  5. ^ a b Huey, S. Allmusic Review accessed November 30, 2010
  6. ^ a b Felsenthal, Daniel (February 25, 2024). "Ornette Coleman: Science Fiction Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 25, 2024.